Twins born with two heads, single body

BEIJING — Conjoined twin baby girls with a single body and two heads have been born at a hospital in southwestern China.

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The girls were born Thursday, according to a staffer surnamed Wang at Suining City Central Hospital in Sichuan province.

Wang said Tuesday that the parents, who are farmers, did not want to have the babies at first, fearing they could not afford to keep them alive.

She said they transferred the twins to a hospital in the nearby metropolis of Chongqing to be examined by experts.

According to the local Huaxi Metropolis Daily, the twins weighed 9 pounds and measured 20 inches. They have two spines and two esophaguses but share other organs.

Doctors said it would be nearly impossible to separate them.

Zhong Min  /  EPA

A doctor and a nurse take care of conjoined twins at a hospital in Suining, China. They have two spines and two esophaguses but share other organs.

"It is hard to say how they will survive in the future, but we will try the best to keep them alive at the moment," Britain's Daily Telegraph quoted Dr. Pu Youhua as saying.